Full Circle — From a Child Living in Housing to Housing Coordinator
J oanna Wilson has been with Mary Hall Freedom Village for four years. She started in residential housing, moved to the RISE program, then recovery housing, and is now housing coordinator. But her history with Mary Hall Freedom Village goes back much further. Twenty-five years ago, Joanna’s mother was a client, and Joanna came with her. As a middle-schooler, Joanna went to school during the daytime as her mother went to meetings. She and her mother shared a house together, just the two of them. Joanna was very supportive and proud of her mother’s decision to choose recovery. She still is. Joanna proudly states, “I can say that she is twenty-five years clean, so it really does work.”
Speaking of work, Joanna shares that, while still in the program, MHFV helped her mother to get a job at Publix. That is one of the many aspects of the healing process—helping participants get back on their feet financially. And not just any job—one with a living wage and a potential career, as in Joanna’s mother’s case. After twenty-five years, she is still working at Publix and will retire soon! Before returning to MHFV, Joanna tried on several careers, mostly in warehousing. When she hears the comment: “ Warehousing? You must be
very organized or very strong!” She laughingly answers, “ Both!”
She also has patience, she adds—the perfect ingredients for a return to Mary Hall Freedom Village, this time helping others who, like her mother in the past, need structure, strength, and, yes, a little patience.
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